AutoHound vs. Shopmonkey

Keep your collision estimator

Your estimators already have a way to write the repair. With AutoHound, they keep it. A Windows connector picks up supported estimates and supplements from CCC ONE, Mitchell, Audatex, and AdjustRite. Earlier versions and source files stay with the repair.

That lets you improve shop management without making an estimating-system change part of the project. AutoHound runs the work around the estimate; the estimating license and database remain separate.

Shopmonkey explicitly markets body-shop software, including workflow, photo documentation, communication, estimates, and payments. Its estimate-building and workflow tools are real capabilities. The reason to choose AutoHound is the collision-specific process around your existing estimate, not a claim that Shopmonkey cannot serve a body shop.

Bring the team. Keep control.

A connected workflow works best when the whole team can use it. AutoHound includes the advisor, estimator, technician, parts desk, and manager in the same plan, with clear pricing and control of your shop data.

• Every product feature included. The shop subscription has no feature tiers to unlock.
• Unlimited users. Give each staff member their own access without adding a per-user AutoHound charge.
• Month-to-month. No long-term software contract. Stay because AutoHound works for your shop.
• Your shop data stays yours. We never sell your shop data or share it for third-party advertising. Use the built-in export tools while your account is active. Read our data commitments.
• Public pricing. No sales call required. The shop plan is $599 per location per month. Read the price and start a private demo on your own schedule. Prefer a conversation or guided walkthrough? We are always happy to talk with shops.

No setup fee, with four onboarding consultation hours included. Your estimating subscription remains separate, and a requested custom historical migration is scoped and quoted separately.

Carry the supplement forward

Illustrative workflow with sample shop data, not customer results.

The sample repair below starts with an approved estimate of $4,830. A later supplement adds $940 and brings the revised job total to $5,770. The original version remains beside it, and the supplement has its own details and approval record.

The advisor can find the change without reconstructing it from an email. Production and parts can work from the connected RO, and the office retains the approval history for payment follow-up. The screenshot also shows an uncertain imported file waiting for confirmation, rather than silently changing the repair.

Give the floor the next move

The AutoHound board shows the promised date, assignments, blocker, and parts signal on each repair. Rename and reorder stages to match your shop, attach required checks, and give technicians a focused My Work queue on a phone or tablet.

A missing part has an order and vendor behind it. A sublet has a status and expected return. A message has a conversation the office can retrieve. That is the practical benefit of connecting the board to the whole repair.

Keep insurer money in view

Delivery does not necessarily mean collection. AutoHound keeps customer and insurer balances separate, so a paid deductible does not hide money still owed by the carrier.

Shopmonkey documents third-party payers in its Transactions Report. Payer identification on a payment is useful, but it is not the entire collision collection process. In AutoHound, follow the repair's customer share, insurer responsibility, and remaining balance as work and payments progress.

Turn materials use into a bill

AutoHound's optional Materials workflow builds job lists from estimate-based kits, lets assigned technicians log extras without seeing costs, and helps the office invoice the amount the estimate has not covered. PPG paint uses recorded mix cost plus the shop's paint markup.

Items already covered start excluded with a reason. Later supplements reduce the uncovered amount. Once sent, the invoice becomes an insurer receivable for follow-up, not money treated as already collected. That connects material usage to the collection conversation.

Take the record into QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online sync carries customers, invoices, and recorded payments from AutoHound on demand or on a schedule. Repeat runs remember what posted. If a materials invoice changes after posting, the next sync flags the correction for the bookkeeper instead of automatically rewriting the posted invoice.

Shopmonkey also documents a QuickBooks Online integration. AutoHound's value is the complete route from the collision estimate and production record through payer follow-up and the accounting handoff.

Start with a workable plan

Keep the supported collision estimator in place and plan the shop-management change around the repairs your team is already handling.

1. Keep the right connections. Confirm your supported estimator, QBO setup, and any required interfaces.
2. Prepare active work. Identify open repairs, orders, balances, and documents. Agree who brings them forward and checks the totals; scope historical migration separately.
3. Set up the essentials. Use the guided checklist for shop details, roles, stages, templates, the estimating connection, and capacity.
4. Rehearse a handoff. Have the advisor, parts person, technician, and bookkeeper follow one repair before your chosen cutover.

Four onboarding consultation hours are included. AutoHound's team brings experience in collision repair, automotive refinish, and OEM software. See the switching plan or meet the people behind AutoHound.

Choose AutoHound for collision

Choose AutoHound when the job revolves around supplements, parts dependencies, and insurer follow-up. Keep your collision estimator and carry each change into the repair record the team shares. Unlimited users, all product features, and clear monthly terms let you equip the whole shop.

Open your private 7-day demo shop and explore realistic repairs without a credit card or a sales call. When you are ready to start your own shop, the 30-day live trial starts at $0 with a payment method required.

See it in AutoHound

• Find an imported estimate and a later supplement on the same RO.
• Follow a partial approval and the next insurer follow-up.
• Open a blocked repair and trace its outstanding part.
• See how the customer share remains distinct from insurer responsibility.
• Explore Materials usage, the uncovered allowance, and the invoice response.
• Follow the QBO handoff and review the unlimited-user plan.